Eight wounded in gun attack on worshippers’ bus in Jerusalem

Eight people have been wounded after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus in Israeli city of Jerusalem, BBC News reported. 

Israeli police said the shooter, a Palestinian holding Israeli citizenship from east Jerusalem later turned himself in. He had no known affiliations with Palestinian militant groups.

The driver of the bus said it had been full of passengers coming from the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews are allowed to pray, when it stopped at the Tomb of David station in the early hours of Sunday.

"We opened the ramp for someone on a wheelchair, and then the shooting started," BBC cited Daniel Kanievsky as saying to Israel's Kan radio.

"Everyone got down on the floor, screaming. I tried to escape, but the bus couldn't drive with the ramp open."

Two of the wounded were in a serious condition, including a pregnant woman. Local media reported that the wounded also included four members of a family from New York who were waiting for a taxi at the bus stop. The father was said to have suffered wounds to the head and neck and was in a serious condition in hospital.

"Jerusalem is our capital city and a tourist centre for all religions," Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement, adding that Israeli security forces would "restore calm".

The police increased security measures in the city for fear of copycat attacks. 

The attack comes right after the worst hostilities in more than a year, when Israeli jets pounded the besieged Gaza Strip and killed at least 49 people including civilians and children, and wounded hundreds more during 56 hours of fighting.

Israeli security forces also killed three Palestinian gunmen in a shootout in the West Bank city of Nablus last week.